Mavs use hitless ninth inning to rally by Texans 4-3

Published 5:22 am, Monday, March 24, 2014

In a contest where just 11 basehits were tallied in the nearly three-hour contest, it was fitting that the game-winning run was scored without the benefit of a hit.

Corey Potts was hit with a pitch on the batting helmet, forcing home Josh Fonseca from third with the winning run in the ninth inning as Memorial rallied for a 3-2 District 22-5A win over rival Sam Rayburn at Maguire Field Friday night.

Sam Rayburn thought it had scored the winning run in the top of the ninth without the aid of a basehit when Robert Loza scored on a passed ball. He had struck out to start the ninth but went to first when the strike three pitch got away from the catcher.

After another wild pitch and a Nathan Campos single deposited Loza on third, he finished his tour of the bases with the passed ball.

Adrian Hinojosa, in relief of starting pitcher Daniel Vasquez, absorbed the loss. Hinojosa worked 11 innings on the mound this past week, pitching a complete-game defeat against South Houston on Tuesday and then the final three and two-third innings against the Mavs.

That may explain why he struggled finding the strike zone in the ninth frame. He walked Cody Corbell and Fonseca with eight straight pitches out of the strike zone. He would momentarily find his control by recording two strikeouts, putting his teammates one out away from the victory.

But then the wildness returned. He hit Christian Rosser with a pitch, filling the bases before walking Chris Arambul, his mound opponent on four pitches, forcing home Corbell. That brought up Potts and on the first pitch, Potts received a game-winning beaning.

Arambul worked only the ninth inning to get the win on the mound. The tough-luck pitcher of the night went to Memorial’s Mitchell Head. Head was roughed up for two runs on four hits in the first inning, but then pitched seven very clean innings.

En route to striking out 11 and walking one, he pitched one-hit ball from the second inning through the eighth. He enjoyed a 1-2-3 inning in five of the seven frames, retiring seven and eight straight batters.

Head is 0-1 with now a no-decision in district play despite allowing one earned run in 15 innings of 22-5A work.

Vasquez toyed with a no-hitter until Corbell reached on an infield single in the fifth. Two batters later, Jacob Alford singled home Floyd Mendoza, who had reached on an error to start the inning.

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In the sixth, Potts, who was being DHed by Cole Brooks for most of the night, used his first plate appearance in the sixth to single home Memorial’s tying run, plating Rosser. Rosser had doubled, ending Vasquez’s stint on the mound.

Ethan Montes would come up with a two-out double, putting two in scoring position, but Hinojosa struck out Corbell to end the threat.